Framingham board to scrutinize Red Roof Inn

Selectmen plan to look at reprimanding Red Roof Inn after the Health Department condemned the room where a woman had been living in squalor with at least half a dozen dogs.

Danielle Ameden/Daily News staff

Selectmen plan to look at reprimanding Red Roof Inn after the Health Department condemned the room where a woman had been living in squalor with at least half a dozen dogs.

The Rte. 30 lodge was already one of two local motels – along with Motel 6 on the other side of town – that Police Chief Steven Carl has under review at selectmen’s request. The chief is set to present recommendations to the board on Sept. 3.

"Things aren’t going in the right direction so we’re going to be taking a sharp look at this because you just can’t have this continuing," Chairman Dennis Giombetti said Tuesday.

He called the latest incident, in which the woman was living in a room full of trash and dog feces at the Red Roof Inn for as long as three years, "somewhat egregious."

"That is clearly not the license that an innkeeper holds," Giombetti said.

The board will hold innkeepers’ licenses over the heads of both motels and give them "some time to work with us" before December, when the licenses are up for annual renewal, Giombetti said.

He said the board has several options, including one that Northborough selectmen considered last fall to suspend or revoke the license of their local Motel 6 following a spate of crime there, including a murder.

Giombetti said he’s concerned by the pattern of appearances by the two Framingham motels in the police blotter, as well as the condition of the buildings and overall business.

Selectmen have asked Carl to bring representatives of both motels with him on Sept. 3.

"It’s my sense anyways that the location of the motels, they’re similar," Giombetti said. "They’re right off of an exit ramp of the Mass. Pike, so those are areas where things can go on in an establishment and people can jump out of town real quick."

Knowing that, Giombetti said it behooves the motel owners to have more management controls in place and run a tighter ship.

The case at the Red Roof Inn "really depicts a problem," he said.

Danielle Ameden can be reached at 508-626-4416 or dameden@wickedlocal.com.

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